The Support For Trump's Impeachment Is Growing

These charts are made from information in a new Public Policy Polling survey -- done on February 7th and 8th of a random national sample of 712 registered voters, with a margin of error of 3.7 points.

It shows that the support for impeaching the new president is growing. Two weeks ago, the support was only 35%. By last week it had grown to 40%. It has now reached 46%, with an equal number opposing it. It's pretty amazing that less than a month into his term of office, as many people want to impeach Trump as want to keep him.

The bottom chart shows that a majority of Americans have an unfavorable opinion of Trump. But it's not just Trump they don't like much. They don't think much of the people he has surrounded himself with either. Steve Bannon, Kellyanne Conway, and Sean Spicer all have an upside-down favorable rating also.

White House Aide (Kellyanne Conway) Violates Federal Law

White House Aide Kellyanne Conway went on Fox News last Thursday. Parroting the president, she attacked retailer Nordstrom for dropping Ivanka Trump's clothing line. That was tacky and unethical, but if that's what the president wants, it is not illegal.

But then she went over the line, and did something that was illegal. Appearing in her official capacity as a White House aide (and with the White House logo in the background), she urged the public to go out and buy clothing from the line of Ivanka Trump. And that was against federal law. Federal law says:

§ 2635.702 Use of public office for private gain.

An employee shall not use his public office for his own private gain, for the endorsement of any product, service or enterprise, or for the private gain of friends, relatives, or persons with whom the employee is affiliated in a nongovernmental capacity, including nonprofit organizations of which the employee is an officer or member, and persons with whom the employee has or seeks employment or business relations. The specific prohibitions set forth in paragraphs (a) through (d) of this section apply this general standard, but are not intended to be exclusive or to limit the application of this section.

Conway should be charged with violating this law. She (and other White House employees) need to understand that they cannot and must not use their official positions for the financial benefit of anyone (even the president and his family).

White House Aides Misuse Their Computers

When the Bush administration took over the White House in 2001, the Republican National Committee provided White House aides with laptop computers. According to the RNC, this was so the aides would not use the government computers for campaign purposes, which they recognized would be inappropriate.

I'll give the RNC the benefit of the doubt and say if that was their ultimate purpose, then it was appropriate and laudable. But after years of lies and coverups by the Bush administration, it should come as no surprise to anyone that these computers have been misused.

Rep. Henry Waxman (D-California) has discovered that many of the aides have used the computers to conduct official government business. This is a clear violation of the Presidential Records Act, which requires the preservation and disclosure of government records. Instead, the Bush administration has used these computers to hide many of its government records.

Waxman also believes the computers were used to hide White House communications with convicted lobbist, Jack Abramoff. By keeping Abramoff communications off the government computers, they thought they could hide his White House ties.

These same computers were also used to hide the White House involvement in the politically-motivated firing of U.S. Attorneys. And they were used to pressure the General Services Administration to make decisions that would help Republican candidates in the last election.

Many Republican activists are terrified now that this computer misuse has been discovered, because they have no idea what other dark secrets may be lurking in these computer files and e-mails. Waxman is now demanding access to the computer e-mails, and since they have been used to hide government business, he should be given that access.

After watching Bush's rather cavalier disrespect for the law over the past few years, it is easy to believe that he would take a gift given him to obey the law, and use it to break the law. Is there any depth to which Bush and his henchmen will not sink to further their own ambitions?

Congressional democrats need to back Rep. Waxman on this issue. It looks like we have only seen the tip of this iceberg, and much more muck is hiding under the surface.